Hungry Liberty defense stifles Silverado in league-opening shutout

Liberty’s defense had a little extra motivation going into Thursday’s Southeast League-opening game at Silverado: Hunger.

“I gave an extra incentive to the kids,” coach Rich Muraco said. “I told them if we shut them out, I’d take them to The M buffet.”

The No. 3 Patriots will be eating at the resort’s buffet courtesy of the coach soon after feasting on the Skyhawk offense, forcing four turnovers and holding Silverado to 151 yards on the way to a 27-0 victory.

Muraco said beyond food, the Patriots entered the game wanting to show they were going to win the physical battle with the sixth-ranked Skyhawks (2-1, 0-1 Southeast League).

“There was a lot of talk in the media between the two schools about who has the more physical line,” Muraco said. “I preached to these guys all week that Silverado has a big, strong team, but we need to come out and show we have the best line in the state. So they were a little extra motivated and it showed.”

That motivation showed on defense, as Liberty (2-1, 1-0) held Silverado to only 57 rushing yards and no points after the Skyhawks had rolled up 89 points and 825 yards of offense in the first two games of the season.

Despite its dominance in the trenches, Liberty clung to a 10-0 lead after three quarters before two key plays by Jeremy Lagasca helped the Patriots seize control.

Lagasca came across the middle of the field and grabbed his second interception of the game with 11:05 left in the fourth quarter. But the Skyhawks appeared to force a three-and-out as Liberty lined up to punt at the 49.

Instead, Patriots punter Marcos Rivera — who also made a pair of field goals — lobbed a pass to Lagasca, who was all alone on the right sideline, and the junior receiver raced 51 yards to the end zone to push Liberty’s lead to 17-0.

“(The outside defender) lined up in close to the line,” Lagasca said. “So coach said if he does that, throw the ball. So we threw it and scored. Easy.”

While its offense had its problems in the game — the Patriots saw three turnovers and had a touchdown called back by a holding penalty — Liberty running back Ty Byrd took advantage of the Patriots superior offensive line to rush for 124 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

“That’s in our nature, our team; that’s what we do is physical,” Byrd said. “(Tonight) was beautiful. It’s a big step, a big achievement.

“But we have big goals this year, and we’re gonna do whatever it takes to get where we want to go, and that’s that state (championship) game.”